23. Long-term performance of PCPVs for nuclear reactors
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Published:1991
P. Dawson, Euring, MA, MICE, H. Rousselle, R.A. Vevers, MICE, 1991. "23. Long-term performance of PCPVs for nuclear reactors", Civil engineering in the nuclear industry: Proceedings of the conference organized by the Institution of Civil Engineers and held in Windermere on 20–22 March 1991, R Dexter-Smith
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SYNOPSIS. In the 1950s, progressive developments in gas cooled reactor technology reached the point where these reactors could no longer be contained in steel pressure vessels with an appropriate level of assurance concerning their long-term integrity. To respond to this situation the prestressed concrete pressure vessel (PCPV) was conceived and developed, fulfilling the dual function of pressure vessel and nuclear radiation shield. The technologies of civil engineering were thereby introduced into an area formerly dominated by mechanical engineering. This paper reviews the performance records of PCPVs and compares these with the original predictions, in respect of movements, concrete stresses and the loads carried by the vessel prestressing systems. It shows that the allowances incorporated in the design of PCPVs for their long-term behaviour were, in general, sensibly conservative and that these structures can be confidently expected to remain in a satisfactory condition for the foreseeable lives of the reactors they contain.
SYNOPSIS
INTRODUCTION
TYPES OF PCPV
REQUIREMENTS AND PROVISIONS FOR IN-SERVICE SURVEILLANCE
SURVEILLANCE RECORDS
CONCLUSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
